2021

After a thrilling Sunday performance at the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez took the win making it the seventh out of the last eight races held at the circuit. The Spaniard had crashed from the lead in a MotoGP race held at the same venue back in 2019, but this time round he gave no chance to any mistakes after dominating for the whole race from Lap 1. Despite starting from third on the grid, Marquez made an incredible start which saw him lead Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo as the headed to the first turn. This was a lead that the eight-time world champion was sure of as he barely faced any pressure. However, for the first five laps Marquez was much slower as he closely led seven riders but the margin extended to a whole second from Quartararo who was following in second place. For the next 12 laps, Marquez was making laps within 2m 04s, a time that only Quartararo could manage to get within occasionally. “It was a great Sunday! Starting from the warm-up the feeling was good,” Marquez said after his seventh win at COTA after executing his plan perfectly. “Basically, my plan A was to lead the race from the first lap and I did it. It was a perfect start, especially the first corner I was braking deep and hard. I tried to control the race in the first three/four laps and then push.” “From five-zero/four-high (lap times) I went to four-low and that is where I felt very strong. I tried to open a gap and that is what I did.” “On those laps I felt very good with the bike and the last part of the race I didn’t know how my physical condition would be.” “I think everybody struggled a lot in this race, so yeah, the gap that I opened with Fabio was enough to manage and ride very constant.” Marquez’s race wins in the 2021 MotoGP season have come from left handed circuits, COTA being one and the other being Sachsenring. Although he prefers the left handed circuits, Marquez insists that his feeling towards the right and left handed circuits has changed since his injury in 2020. “Of course, in the left circuit corners; always has been one of my strong points, but now with the injuries it is even bigger the difference, the feeling in right and left corners,” said Marquez. “It is easy to explain that the left corners I can turn and I can push with the left hand and use the triceps. “But in the right corners, just I push with the left and from there I have understeer. When I try to push with the right hand at the moment I can’t, but I am able to ride well.” “It is true that riding like this is difficult, which is why I crashed many times, but we are working on it and we are trying to understand it well.” AUSTIN MOTOGP, COTA – RACE RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF 1 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 41m 41.435s 2 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +4.679s 3 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +8.547s 4 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +11.098s 5 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +11.752s 6 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +13.269s 7 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +14.722s 8 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +13.406s 9 Brand Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +15.832s 10 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +20.265s 11 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +23.055s 12 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +24.743s 13 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +25.307s 14 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +26.853s 15 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +28.055s 16 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +30.989s 17 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +35.251s 18 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +42.239s 19 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +49.854s   Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF   Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) DNF

2021 MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo says the track surface at the Circuit of the Americas is “a joke” and “unsafe”, as several riders including pole sitter Francesco Bagnaia voiced safety concerns after Friday and Saturday practice sessions in Austin. The track near Austin was slammed by most MotoGP riders following Friday’s practices as a result of poor surface riddled with vicious bumps. The situation was even worse when there was a little downfall in the first practice session(FP1). Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo claimed the circuit was a “joke”, while Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro went as far as to say he doesn’t think it’s safe to race on it on Sunday. “It’s more or less a track I use to train with a motocross bike, but much faster and with a MotoGP bike,” he said. “So, it’s really bad. I can’t imagine it, we said three years ago they need to resurface and it’s even worse. “It’s just acceptable to race, I don’t know what to say. But it’s a joke.” “It’s not a MotoGP track for me. To make a race here – for one lap it’s OK – but for 20 laps, we will see that there will be some bad moments.” “You see a lot of bikes shaking in Turn 10. The thing is the bumps are in the worst places possible, because if you have bumps in Turns 1, 11, 12, it’s OK because it’s slow corners.” “But Turn 1, Turn 2, 3, 10 are the worst corners you can have bumps, and there are bumps there. So, let’s see.” “I usually don’t go to the safety commission, but when there is something serious, I will go and today something serious that for the safety is… the track is unsafe. It’s clear to say that it’s not great and we need to resurface everything.” Ducati’s Bagnaia, who is fighting for the championship and currently sits 48 points behind leader Quartararo, believes that the track is currently “over the limit” with regards to safety. The Ducati rider was asked if any lessons could be learned from what happened at Silverstone in 2018, when a badly-resurfaced track could not drain water properly forcing the race to be cancelled, he said the current situation with COTA is worse. When asked if cancelling Sunday’s race was an option, he said, “No, will not be possible, I think. We are here, we have to race. I don’t know, we will speak in the safety commission. “I’m sure that some riders will have the opinion to don’t race, but obviously someone will say it’s raceable and we have to race. So, it’s strange because we are playing to be always [at] the top and [around] this track you can’t go on the limit, because every lap you are over the limit. “And I think it’s over the limit about safety. So, we will speak after and we will take a decision. [It’s] a lot worse than Silverstone, I think.”

Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia brought to an end Marc Marquez’s run of seven straight poles at the Grand Prix of Americas on Saturday as he topped qualifying and took his third consecutive pole in the 2021 MotoGP season after Aragon and San Marino MotoGPs. Bagnaia’s last lap of two minutes 02.781 seconds was just enough to push six-times world champion Marquez into third, as 2021 MotoGP world championship leader Fabio Quartararo took the second place on his Factory Yamaha. “We worked a lot this week. I really enjoy qualifying, I gave it my all in the second attempt, the last corner was a bit wide, but very happy,” said Bagnaia, who ranks second in the championship behind Quartararo seperated by 48 points. Quartararo, despite an unpromising Friday practice, was able to get back to form and was very impressive on Saturday. “We are struggling a little more than usual in qualifying. Pecco (Bagnaia) was really fast but it is always great to start in the first row. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow,” the championship leader said. Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin will start fourth ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, while Bagnaia’s team mate Jack Miller, despite being fast all weekend, could only manage 10th. Alex Rins will be leading his Suzuki team-mate Joan Mir in seventh. Mir had to come through Q1 and was only left with one bike to complete qualifying with after he suffered an engine failure at the start of the preceding FP4 session. The Suzuki rider followed Avintia rookie Luca Marini through Q1, the Italian putting his two-year-old Ducati ninth on the grid ahead of a furious Jack Miller. A number of riders, including former world champion Valentino Rossi, crashed during qualifying following concerns this week that the Circuit of the Americas in Texas was too bumpy, with Quartararo calling it “a joke” and “unsafe”. Reigning world champion Joan Mir on Friday said that he would take up the matter with MotoGP’s Safety Commission and try to find a solution. AUSTIN MOTOGP, COTA – FULL QUALIFYING RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 2’2.781s 6/7 344k 2 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.348s 6/7 342k 3 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.428s 3/6 342k 4 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.497s 2/6 346k 5 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.511s 6/6 343k 6 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.598s 3/7 350k 7 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.672s 6/7 341k 8 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.747s 3/6 338k 9 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.765s 2/3 341k 10 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.939s 2/6 342k 11 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.000s 6/6 343k 12 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +1.094s 3/6 345k   Qualifying 1:           13 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 2’3.872s 5/6 339k 14 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) 2’4.044s 7/7 342k 15 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) 2’4.1s 7/7 346k 16 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* 2’4.118s 6/6 346k 17 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) 2’4.324s 6/7 343k 18 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) 2’4.392s 6/6 341k 19 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 2’4.419s 5/5 345k 20 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) 2’4.699s 3/6 343k 21 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) 2’4.829s 6/7 339k

After Marc Marquez dominating the Friday practice sessions, Factory Ducati rider Jack Miller left nothing to imagination as he topped the time sheets in the third practice session at the Circuit Of The Americas. Before the third practice session was underway, there was speculation that it would be slightly raining. However, luck befell the riders as they set out to a dry track on the qualifying day. In the early stages of the third practice session, the riders could not match the combined friday practice lap times set by Marc Marquez. The closest just came within an eighth of a second of the Spaniards lap time. It seemed as Marquez would continue dominating the Saturday practice, as Takaaki Nakagami closely followed in P2 with a gap of under a tenth of a second. Nakagami later, further narrowed down the gap after recording 2.04.616 lap time, which was sixth tenths of a second off Marc Marquez leading time. Suzuki’s Joan Mir however, split the two riders taking P2, a move that saw the world champion rank tenth overall. With the practice session being halfway, Nakagami made the fastest lap with 2.07.739 time, which was enough to rank the Japanese rider on top of the combined lap times. Nakagami’s teammate Alex Marquez was not that lucky as he suffered a slow crash on turn 1 moments later. Miguel Oliveira soon followed Nakagami in time attack that saw him move into the top 6 fastest lap times, but his time was not long lasting as several riders were faster and eventually the Portuguese rider was knocked out of the top ten by his teammate Brad Binder. Jack Miller, who was the favorite for the Saturday quali, topped the time sheets with only thirteen minutes to go. Monster Energy Yamaha team-mates Fabio Quarararo and Franco Morbidelli made improvements, while Alex Rins, winner the last time MotoGP race at COTA also jumped up the order for Suzuki. Yellow flags were brought out with five minutes remaining as Aleix Espargaro suffered a second crash this weekend at turn 12. At the front, Marquez threatened to displace Miller late on, before the Australian set the first and only sub 2m 03s time so far this weekend, a lap that was a stunning six tenths quicker than Nakagami in second. Luca Marini became the third rider to fall late on at turn two. AUSTIN MOTOGP, COTA – FREE PRACTICE (3) RESULTS POS   RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 ^1 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) 2’02.923s 15/16 348k 2 ^3 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.679s 15/16 341k 3 ^6 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.804s 16/17 341k 4 ˅3 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.881s 15/17 345k 5 ^3 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.900s 15/17 346k 6 ˅3 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.944s 13/17 340k 7 ˅3 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +1.097s 12/12 344k 8 ^3 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.117s 15/15 342k 9 ˅3 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +1.202s 14/15 347k 10 ˅3 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +1.274s 14/15 344k 11 ^7 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.337s 16/16 343k 12 ˅2 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.504s 16/16 346k 13 = Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +1.571s 14/16 340k 14 ^1 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.587s 14/16 339k 15 ^2 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.937s 17/17 338k 16 ^5 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.967s 13/14 340k 17 ˅3 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +2.387s 15/15 335k 18 ˅2 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +2.616s 12/14 344k 19 = Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +2.635s 3/12 346k 20 ˅8 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +3.005s 3/12 342k 21 ˅1 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +3.127s 11/15 339k

Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez has topped the sheets again in Austin MotoGP FP2 after beating Factory Ducati rider Jack Miller with just a fifteenth of a second at COTA. Marc Marquez was equally as strong in FP2 which was dry compared to a predominantly wet FP1 in which he recorded the fastest lap. With the weather uncertainity also being expected in Saturday, the dry afternoon session was very important as multiple time attacks were attempted. As the FP2 kicked off in the afternoon, Marc Marquez and Jack Miller were on the top of the time sheets with a way more bigger time margin from the other riders. However, in the end Marquez was too fast to beat even by Jack Miller who finished third last time MotoGP was at COTA back in 2019. Marquez was five tenths of a second faster than Miller as the session began but even looked to widen the gap to a whole second two laps later but the Spaniard chose to head to the pits abandoning his effort. Factory KTM rider Brad Binder ranked third on the timesheets a time he set in the better half of the afternoon practice session. However, Takaaki Nakagami was quick to displace the South African as he pushed him to fourth and finally finished 11th at the end of the session. Miguel Oliveira later challenged Nakagami’s third place as his KTM RC16 found pace but could not challenge Marquez and Miller’s lap times. Later on Miller was able to close the half a second gap from Marc Marquez to just 0.123s. Iker Lecuona was the first rider to experience a highside as Miguel Oliveira and Aleix Espargaro crashed later on in the afternoon session. Bagnaia became the first rider to set a sub 2m 05s lap when the time attacks began , however, the winner of the last two races was immediately beaten by Takaaki Nakagami. Rins and Quartararo also went top before Marquez improved upon Quartararo’s time by a further two tenths. Marquez could have improved further to set a sub 2m 04s time, but the eight-time world champion made a mistake at turn 12. This allowed Miller to get within +0.015s of top spot on his final flying lap. MotoGP is returning to COTA for the first time since the 2019 event, after which further resurfacing work was carried out on around 40% of the track (Turns 1-2, 9-10, 16-19, plus the back straight) to alleviate bumps. However, bikes and riders are still being badly kicked around. As a result of the resurfacing and change of date from April, Michelin is providing a fourth rear tyre option (two hard compounds), while wet weather is also forecast. COTA has the most corners (20) in MotoGP, including the slowest of the season at just 50km/h (Turn 11). The following back straight is the longest in MotoGP at 1.2km and ends with the hardest braking on the calendar, from over 330km/h to less than 60km/h. Maverick Vinales has withdrawn from the COTA event after the tragic death of his young cousin Dean Berta Vinales in last weekend’s Jerez WorldSSP300 race. AUSTIN MOTOGP, COTA – FREE PRACTICE (2) RESULTS POS   RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 = Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2’04.164s 16/17 342k 2 = Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.015s 17/17 346k 3 ^12 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.202s 15/17 342k 4 ^1 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.388s 16/16 344k 5 ^11 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.448s 13/16 342k 6 ^2 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +0.499s 16/16 341k 7 ^12 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.513s 14/15 341k 8 ˅5 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.559s 14/15 346k 9 ˅2 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.638s 16/18 339k 10 ^8 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.672s 16/16 342k 11 ˅2 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.688s 15/16 342k 12 ˅1 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.769s 16/16 343k 13 ˅1 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.930s 15/15 341k 14 ^7 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.973s 14/15 339k 15 ^2 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.132s 13/14 339k 16 ˅10 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +1.450s 16/16 341k 17 ^3 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.467s 16/16 338k 18 ˅14 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.518s 9/14 341k 19 ˅5 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +2.045s 10/12 345k 20 ˅7 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +2.071s 13/14 335k 21 ˅11 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +2.093s 16/16 342k

Six Time Circuit Of The Americas winner, Marc Marquez topped the first practice session of the Austin MotoGP. The Repsol Honda rider dominated the first practice session in wet conditions and once again it looks like he’s the man to beat. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo finished the session in 15th place. The wet conditions at COTA were very similar to Misano first practice sessin two weeks ago, which again Marc Marquez dominated. Marc Marquez started the session two seconds clear of his teammate Pol Espargaro but it was not long before Pramac rider Johann Zarco reduced the margin to just 1.3 seconds. As the practice session progressed the track started to dry out with a dry line appearing but it wasa still too risky to bring the slick tyres out. In the last 15 minutes lap times continued to progress as the riders had much more grip on the track. Marquez, improved his lap time with an eighth of a second after changing from soft wets to mediums. Factory Ducati rider Jack Miller tried to get within two tenths of Marc Marquez but in the end was unable to get the better of him as the time attack became more intense, however Miller ended up ranking second. Johann Zarco was third in the time sheets after undergoing an arm pump surgery as Miguel Oliveira ranked fourth making a huge comeback after tough Silverstone, Aragon, Austria and Misano rounds. Marc Marquez teammate Pol Espargaro ranked fifth in the timesheets as his brother Alex Marquez finished an encouraging sixth as the session came to a close. The only rider to have crashed in the session was Takaaki Nakagami who suffered a late fall at Turn 15. AUSTIN MOTOGP, COTA – FREE PRACTICE (1) RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2’15.872s 12/15 338k 2 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.167s 14/15 339k 3 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.599s 16/16 338k 4 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.783s 14/15 334k 5 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.950s 14/15 339k 6 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +1.092s 16/16 333k 7 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +1.155s 15/15 334k 8 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +1.456s 16/16 338k 9 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.724s 13/14 336k 10 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.724s 16/16 328k 11 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.883s 12/13 335k 12 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +2.031s 9/14 333k 13 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +2.211s 11/14 332k 14 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +2.215s 14/14 333k 15 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +2.293s 16/16 334k 16 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +2.420s 14/15 338k 17 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +2.658s 13/14 329k 18 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +2.776s 14/14 335k 19 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +2.960s 8/14 332k 20 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +3.796s 14/14 333k 21 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +4.684s 5/12 329k

Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales will not be racing in the United States MotoGP in Austin, Texas following the demise of his cousin Dean Berta Vinales last weekend at Jerez after a horrific bike accident. Dean Berta Vinales sustained serious head and chest injuries after several riders crashed in the World Supersport 300 race. The 15-year-old was on a Yamaha R3 racing for Vinales Racing Team which is run by the family. With only a few days passed after Berta Vinales demise, Maverick vinales has opted out of MotoGP races for the time being to spend time with the grieving family. “Less than a week has passed since the accident involving Dean Berta Viñales, Maverick’s young cousin, which is not enough time to regain the serenity needed to race. Maverick, with the full and unconditional support of Aprilia Racing, has therefore decided to take a break on his journey of getting to know the bike and team from Noale,” the official Aprilia statement reads. “The entire Aprilia Racing family supports this decision and stands with Maverick and his loved ones. There will be other times and other rounds to resume the promising journey begun together. A journey that must be entirely respectful of the people involved and their feelings.” Maverick Viñales has raced twice for Aprilia since his sensational switch to the Italian manufacturer from factory Yamaha racing team. The Spaniard 18th and 13th in his opening races on the RS-GP, at Aragon and Misano respectively. At this stage it’s unknown whether Lorenzo Savadori will return to racing action in place of Viñales. Savadori has returned to his role of test rider following Viñales’ arrival at the team. A minute of silence will be held today (September 30) at 16:15 (local time in Austin) in memory of Dean Berta Viñales.